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Traffic and Travel

Wokingham Borough Connect

Summer fun helps people travel more healthily

Our efforts to get more people walking and cycling are having an impact, according to a recent survey.

More than 14,000 people took part in last summer's Beat the Street challenge, which was a fun game encouraging everyone to travel more actively instead of driving.

Players logged more than 163,000 miles over six weeks - and six months on, 87 per cent (more than 12,100 people) said they were still living active lives.

Some 42 per cent said they were walking more for day-to-day travel, and 14 per cent said the same about cycling.

They had to follow a map of the borough to find designated spots, or "beat boxes", and earn points using a contactless card or app. Players could compare scores on an online leaderboard, adding some fun and friendly competition.

Beat the Street was run by Intelligent Health, in partnership with our My Journey Wokingham active travel team.

Encouraging walking and cycling all year round

We know most people can't ditch the car entirely, but we're doing all we can to encourage alternatives where that's realistic - especially for short journeys.

Our My Journey Wokingham team work with all sections of the community to promote the benefits of walking, cycling and taking public transport.

We want to provide more safe, accessible walking and cycling routes where we can, subject to public consultation and external funding.

We're also working in partnership with bus operators to improve services and help them continue to recover after the impact of the pandemic.

As well as reducing air pollution, sustainable travel reduces carbon emissions and helps everyone play their part in fighting the climate emergency.

It's also much healthier and cheaper than driving, so it can make people's daily lives less sedentary and more affordable.

The westbound carriageway of the M4 will be closed between junctions 6 and 7, near Slough, between 6am on Saturday 15 March and 6am on Monday 17 March. This is due to resurfacing works. A signed diversion will be in place.

Above: a fake QR code on a payment machine in Fylde, Lancashire. Photo courtesy of Fylde Council

Don't get stung by car park payment scam

With a common scam affecting car parks in other parts of the country, we'd like to remind everyone that we don't charge via QR code in any of our car parks.

We don't think it's happening in our borough, but there are ongoing reports of scammers putting stickers with fake QR codes on payment machines.

These lead to fake payment sites which can be used to harvest victims' card details and leave them at risk of a fine for not having a valid parking ticket.

If you see a QR code stuck on one of our payment machines, it isn't ours so you should not pay and should report it to us as soon as possible.

Please note that we do use QR codes on some letters that we post to households, so these are likely to be genuine.

Later this month, we're going to announce a timetable for road closures linked to the South Wokingham Distributor Road. We're not expecting these until mid to late summer, so you'll have plenty of notice, and you can sign up to our South Wokingham newsletter for updates.

Road safety lessons are fun and interactive

As well as supporting us with all aspects of highway and street lighting maintenance, our partners at Volker Highways play their part in keeping our children safe.

Their cone mascot Kerby, pictured here on a recent visit to Emmbrook Infant School in Wokingham, regularly helps the team to give talks about awareness.

Children learn things like staying alert and not being distracted by their friends or phones, staying visible and how to use different crossings safely.

The sessions are brought to life using miniature road signs and acting out different situations, asking pupils to judge whether they're safe or not.

Volker also work with schools and young people on topics like skills and career development, and anyone interested in learning more can get in touch.

A helping hand in all weathers

As part of their contract with us, Volker cover 736km (457 miles) of all kinds of roads, providing planned and reactive maintenance, footway improvements, bridge and street lighting maintenance.

They also look after drainage maintenance and repairs, street cleansing, winter maintenance like gritting, pothole and patching works and a full emergency response service to cover things like clearing fallen trees.

They're responsible for 3,500 road gullies, 243 structures and 16,113 street lighting columns, as well as 764km (474 miles) of roadside footpaths across the borough.

You can report faults to us online - but please bear in mind that some faults need help from other organisations, like utility firms, and may take longer to address.

We also can't address every type of fault that's reported with our highways, as we have limited resources and have to save them for the most serious cases.

Reading Buses, which runs several routes across the borough, has announced it will be supporting Berkshire Youth as its charity of the year for 2025.

Upcoming roadworks

Keeping up to date

• For planned and emergency roadworks, follow us on Facebook
• To find out about roadworks near you, visit our interactive map
• For active and sustainable travel, visit MyJourney Wokingham 
• Visit our major new roads page for plans and updates
• Find out more about re-surfacing and repairs including potholes
• Report any issues with roads and streets online - including street lights, problems with traffic lights, potholes, damaged street furniture, problems with road markings and removal of dead animals. 
• Find out more about parking and permits including car park locations and costs, resident permits, park and ride services and appealing a parking fine
• Our transport and travel page includes applying for a senior citizen's or disabled person's bus and train pass, as well as public transport information
• The blue parking badges page has information on applying for, using, replacing and returning your blue badge